Car crash victim asked to lie on blood-spattered trolley

A TEENAGE patient was ‘absolutely horrified’ when she was asked to lie on a hospital trolley, still speckled with the fresh blood of its previous occupant.

Gemma Gray was taken to Boston Pilgrim Hospital at around 9.30pm on Tuesday, July 3, suffering with back and neck pain after a minor car accident.

The blood splattered trolley Gemma Gray was asked to wait on before her treatment at Boston Pilgrim Hospital.

When she arrived, her mother Mandy Boyers claims Gemma was asked to lie on trolley, which was still wet with some else’s blood.

Mandy said: “I thought it was absolutely shocking - if she had cuts and had touched it, she could have been infected with AIDS or anything.

“My daughter was horrified, as soon as she saw it she yelled ‘get me off this trolley.’”

Despite her painful injuries, Gemma decided she would rather wait for treatment on a chair, than the unclean trolley initially offered,

The 17-year-old from Burgh le Marsh was left waiting on the chair without a replacement trolley until she was treated by a doctor.

Mandy added: “The treatment that she went on to receive was good, but the cleanliness was appalling.”

The family’s dissatisfaction with the hospital’s cleanliness was not only restricted to the trolley.

Mandy has taken photographs of the ward her daughter was treated in, which shows blood splattered walls, dirty sinks and litter on the floor.

The waiting room she and her partner stayed in until Gemma was discharged was also pictured littered with wrappers and dirt.

The family have made an official complaint to United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust, which operates Boston Pilgrim.

A spokesperson for the trust, said: “We would like to apologise to Miss Gray and her family.

“We make every effort to ensure our hospitals are kept clean and to prevent the risk of contamination and will work with our staff to ensure the A&E department meets our very high standards.

“Pilgrim hospital has a good record for cleanliness and a ‘green is clean’ sticker system is in place, which ensures that no equipment is used unless it has a green sticker on it indicating that it is clean.

“In addition, all areas in our A&E department are regularly inspected for cleanliness, and signature lists are held to ensure A&E cubicles are cleaned regularly.”